Miscellaneous Stories Connected To Ongoing Foreclosure Mess

The following links are to an assortment of stories that caught my eye that may be viewed as small, peripheral pieces of the "foreclosure mess" puzzle:

• Arson for copper: This is what it's come to?: People are burning down buildings in New Bedford, Massachusetts to get at the valuable copper wire inside their walls. Reportedly, there are now more than 300 abandoned buildings in the city sitting in various stages of disrepair - three-story time bombs, ticking away right next door to their low-income neighbors, poor people trying to scratch out a living. It's not any wonder that Mayor Scott Lang is terrified about literally seeing his city go up in flames.

• Corpse in 'old lady clothes' found inside North Hollywood home (Police believe it had been there at least a year): Los Angeles police find the mummified remains of the 80+ year old previous owner of a now-foreclosed home that was stuffed halfway to the ceiling with trash and inhabited by a 48-year-old man (the deceased owner's son), 26 cats, three opossums and a raccoon.

• Family Worries About Losing Foster Child During Foreclosure: Family in foreclosure worries what might happen to an 11-year old foster child living with them if they lose the house. Reportedly, the local Department of Social Services says the state does not have any rules specifically regarding foreclosures and foster care.

• Code Enforcement Overwhelmed, Asks For Additional Funding: Vacant, abandoned homes in foreclosure are draining Orange County, Florida code enforcement budget. Says it needs $1 million more to handle the 17,000 homes in foreclosure.

• Dogs, cats need homes for the holidays: The Gulf Coast Humane Society in Ft. Myers, Florida has a four-month wait list of people wanting to surrender their pets. Many people on the list are in foreclosure, and choose not to wait. "We have a lot of animals that just get tied to the gates. I mean the number has tripled from last year," says one Humane Society employee.

• The Condo Crunch (Sales Are Slow, Prices Are Falling, Dues Are Overdue. How Are Associations Coping?): The challenges facing Washington D.C. condos are mounting. Sales prices are falling and are not expected to stabilize soon. The number of condo owners not paying their association fees is rising along with foreclosure rates, creating a budget crunch weighing down many communities.

• Ogden home fire ruled suspicious: A suspicious fire in a vacant foreclosed home sustained approximately $150,000 in damages. The interior had just undergone repairs for recent vandalism. Neighbors' homes on each side of the house received a total of about $20,000 in damage due to radiant heat and melting vinyl siding.

• Cold Weather Leads To More Arsons: Cincinnati's fire department says the cold weather is bringing more arsons in vacant homes. Fire investigators are asking you to keep an eye on abandoned homes in your neighborhood before a firebug strikes. The Cincinnati Fire Department says arsons in vacant homes around the city is a big problem. Neighborhood leaders say the foreclosure crisis has also played a big role in the number of arsons in vacant homes.

• Firefighters Battle Fires In Foreclosed Homes: Firefighters are working hard to protect neighborhoods with abandoned homes. Like many communities, Lynn, Massachusetts has seen a surge of foreclosed homes, and fire officials want to make sure they don't become a hazard.

• Family Goes From Foreclosure To Skid Row: Andy Bale, the director of Skid Row's Union Mission in Los Angeles, has never seen this before: In just the last few weeks, he has admitted a half-dozen two-parent families, many of who have lost their homes to foreclosure. Bale says the face of Skid Row's homeless is changing quickly.

• Foreclosure looms for owners of Duncanville's Cherry Pit swingers club: The owners of Duncanville's Cherry Pit swingers club face foreclosure on the home where they have hosted sex parties for hundreds of Dallas-area swingers. The foreclosure hints at the owners' financial difficulties stemming from a slew of legal trouble that began last year when the city of Duncanville approved an ordinance outlawing the sex club operation. ArsonForeclosureAlpha